Author
Topic: Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson (Read 417 times)

This book is particularly fascinating because you are seeing the birth of the computer age, not just through Steve Jobs eyes but through an assortment of friends, coworkers and enemies as well. And when it gets to the moment of Steve Wozniak putting together the first computer and typing on the keyboard to display text on a screen it's pretty heavy. Think about that for a second. It so easy to get lost in the 'simplicity' of doing something that we all take for granted now. We know nothing else but this. Typing now on the PC it seems so effortless. But try to imagine being Woz on June 29, 1975 when his computer worked with the end result of text on screen, the first person on the planet to do so. Man, that must have been a rush like no other. In that nanosecond of success, he literally change the course of humanity and how we live now. That's some pretty heady stuff right there.

Also mind blowing was that of Ron Wayne, who's initial investment into Apple for 10% and subsequent withdrawal due to fear of the unknown could be looked at as the most EPIC FAIL of all time. Had he not gotten cold feet, he would be worth $2.6 Billion as of 2010. Holy crap!!! It shouldn't surprise me either that one of the first Apple Computers sold for $213,000 at Christies back in the same year as well.

Before the book, I never really knew Steve Jobs and what he was like other than what I saw on TV like everyone else. So it's kind of baffling that this hippie with long hair, dirty feet, refusing to bathed would change the world.

We've all heard about what a collosal dick and ass hole Steve Jobs is with regards to other people and the manner in which he dismisses people without provocation. It's really hard to find sympathy in someone that is as classless as he was or so I thought. The more I read, the more I got to understand that he wasn't being a dick for the sake of being one. He just couldn't help himself. He didn't have empathy in his personality. It's also some of the most riveting reading you will come across. All the showdowns and arguments are layed bare in the book and the best of the bunch is clearly the Scully/Jobs coup. But leave it to Scully's wife to sum it up best when she confronted him about the way he was treating her husband. "Can't you look at me when I'm talking to you? Nevermind, don't look at me, when I look into most people's eyes, I see a soul. When I look into your eyes, I see a bottomless pit, an empty hole, a dead zone". Game. Set. Match.

We all know how driven Jobs was to create the perfect product and how he would rant at any perceived flaw, real or not, regarding whatever must-have device he was working on. I find it fascinating that he always strove for perfection and never wavered in his quest to get there. But the mindset of Jobs, although impressive was way off. He could fix anything and everything put in front of him, but he couldn't fix the one thing that had the biggest flaw of them all...himself. Personality wise or health wise, he had to work with what he had and there was no changing who he was, even in the face of death.

I am not a Mac user, and I have never owned a Mac product, so I can rate this book on it's merit alone and not that of a fan-boy. This is a thoroughly engaging and fascinating read. And at a whopping 800 pages for the Large print (it was the only copy available at the Library), I read from cover to cover fairly quickly because there are so many pivotal moments that came at the hands of Jobs. For me the best part of the book was his showdown with Michael Eisner and the behemoth that was and is Pixar. The only part of the book that I really didn't care for was the section devoted to the women in his life. I just didn't care much about who they were and it did bring the book to a halt for me. Other than that, Walter Isaacson did a fantastic job writing the book.

Damn you man. Now I just might have to go Ďbuyí a book. This book. I havenít bought a book in months. Cause I know once Iím done withÖ then what? I know, I knowÖ itís the time reading it that makes it worth it. Maybe a used copyÖ perhaps.

And maybe this will tie in perfectly with my current situation. Youíre reiterating the description of Jobs and lack of social skills is hitting home with my current work conditions. My mentor, who I have to work with 8 hours a day, is brilliant at what he does. Unfortunately, he is cocky, lacks patience and any sense of humor. His discussion with colleagues is harsh, and his teaching skills Ė Sucks royally. Iím in a quandary and question myself on this direction. I would like to see, and maybe this book will reveal, how others put up with him.

I'm shocked that none of his coworkers ever killed Steve Jobs on the spot. They respected what he brought to Apple, but thought he was a dick for how he treated people. I have zero tolerance for people like that and I myself have clashed with managers and supervisors at my old job with regards to their managing style.

You canít fight people for who they are. Iíve learned you need to recognize character in people and adjust as necessary if you have to work with them. But at the same time I expect Ďthose othersí to have the same respect and treat me accordingly. Thereís no reason they canít learn things too.

I find my patience and tolerance being severely stretched with my mentor and friend. I do recognize several things including the great opportunity to learn from a guru, this necessary part of work that the company knows is critical. This will further increase my skill set, thus position me better in the eyes of the company. Itís a fine balance of running with this opportunity and telling him he is a dick.

The flip side, this process interests me only a little.

Iím going to run with Ďitís an opportunityí and drink all the lemonade from the lemon. Moaning and pissing wonít help in any way. So Iím off back to studying.

Q: It's becoming well known that Jobs was able to create his Reality Distortion Field when it served him. Was it difficult for you to cut through the RDF and get beneath the narrative that he created? How did you do it?

Isaacson: Andy Hertzfeld, who worked with Steve on the original Macintosh team, said that even if you were aware of his Reality Distortion Field, you still got caught up in it. But that is why Steve was so successful: He willfully bent reality so that you became convinced you could do the impossible, so you did. I never felt he was intentionally misleading me, but I did try to check every story. I did more than a hundred interviews. And he urged me not just to hear his version, but to interview as many people as possible. It was one of his many odd contradictions: He could distort reality, yet he was also brutally honest most of the time. He impressed upon me the value of honesty, rather than trying to whitewash things.

Q: How were the interviews with Jobs conducted? Did you ask lots of questions, or did he just talk?

Isaacson: I asked very few questions. We would take long walks or drives, or sit in his garden, and I would raise a topic and let him expound on it. Even during the more formal sessions in his living room, I would just sit quietly and listen. He loved to tell stories, and he would get very emotional, especially when talking about people in his life whom he admired or disdained.

Q: He was a powerful man who could hold a grudge. Was it easy to get others to talk about Jobs willingly? Were they afraid to talk?

Isaacson: Everyone was eager to talk about Steve. They all had stories to tell, and they loved to tell them. Even those who told me about his rough manner put it in the context of how inspiring he could be.

Q: Jobs embraced the counterculture and Buddhism. Yet he was a billionaire businessman with his own jet. In what way did Jobs' contradictions contribute to his success?

Isaacson: Steve was filled with contradictions. He was a counterculture rebel who became a billionaire. He eschewed material objects yet made objects of desire. He talked, at times, about how he wrestled with these contradictions. His counterculture background combined with his love of electronics and business was key to the products he created. They combined artistry and technology.

Q: Jobs could be notoriously difficult. Did you wind up liking him in the end?

Isaacson: Yes, I liked him and was inspired by him. But I knew he could be unkind and rough. These things can go together. When my book first came out, some people skimmed it quickly and cherry-picked the examples of his being rude to people. But that was only half the story. Fortunately, as people read the whole book, they saw the theme of the narrative: He could be petulant and rough, but this was driven by his passion and pursuit of perfection. He liked people to stand up to him, and he said that brutal honesty was required to be part of his team. And the teams he built became extremely loyal and inspired.

Q: Do you believe he was a genius?

Isaacson: He was a genius at connecting art to technology, of making leaps based on intuition and imagination. He knew how to make emotional connections with those around him and with his customers.

Q: Did he have regrets?

Isaacson: He had some regrets, which he expressed in his interviews. For example, he said that he did not handle well the pregnancy of his first girlfriend. But he was deeply satisfied by the creativity he ingrained at Apple and the loyalty of both his close colleagues and his family.

Q: What do you think is his legacy?

Isaacson: His legacy is transforming seven industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, digital publishing, and retail stores. His legacy is creating what became the most valuable company on earth, one that stood at the intersection of the humanities and technology, and is the company most likely still to be doing that a generation from now. His legacy, as he said in his "Think Different" ad, was reminding us that the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

You canít fight people for who they are. Iíve learned you need to recognize character in people and adjust as necessary if you have to work with them. But at the same time I expect Ďthose othersí to have the same respect and treat me accordingly. Thereís no reason they canít learn things too.

I find my patience and tolerance being severely stretched with my mentor and friend. I do recognize several things including the great opportunity to learn from a guru, this necessary part of work that the company knows is critical. This will further increase my skill set, thus position me better in the eyes of the company. Itís a fine balance of running with this opportunity and telling him he is a dick.

The flip side, this process interests me only a little.

Iím going to run with Ďitís an opportunityí and drink all the lemonade from the lemon. Moaning and ****ing wonít help in any way. So Iím off back to studying.

Yo Mac, just a heads up. When you are reading the book, you will get more enjoyment out of it by watching YouTube for some of the big moments that are being dissected in the book. It's like getting a pre-made documentary for the book.

For my own benefit, I kept my name on the wait list for the Regular Print Edition of the book while I was reading the Large Print Edition. I wanted to see how fast I could read it and where I was on the list by the time I finished.

I guess it depends on how many copies are being circulated. If it's only a few, lots of people are picking it up and returning quickly... or just canceling. If you have lots of copies, for two weeks that's a pretty good number.

I picked it primarily for personal reasons that I could relate to, but also I've just been hearing so much about Jobs, through the news, the Isaacson biography and such.

I found the article very interesting. Like a ping-pong game going from ruthless evil to successful business man. The author appears to explore all avenues. He even goes back to Isaacson who now seems to defend Jobs in everything he did. Why? I don't know. Isaacson saying Jobs family was picture perfect pretty much defies everyone else account, including Isaacson's.

In the long run, I think Job's actions are unique in achieving success. I don't think he should be a model to follow. And I certainly find him despicable as a father and family man.

Why the f uck get married and have kids if your work is more important.

The dude was definitely driven, but I would never want to be anything like him. One of the things that rubbed me the wrong way when reading the book was how closed off he was to his first child and how he basically chose his ambition over blood. Not cool.....not cool at all.